V.I.P. Winter Pass from Yogurtland Burlingame

Fro-yo girl here. Several months ago, I signed up for Yogurtland Burlingame’s VIP email list and last week I picked up the winter VIP pass. It’s a plastic card that you use to claim special offers each month for the next five months (good at the Burlingame location only). Supplies of the card are limited.

• November: Large cup of pumpkin pie fro-yo for $3. The large cup is massive...it’s too much for one person but perfect to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. Toppings are included.
• December: Five ounces of peppermint hot cocoa fro-yo for free
• January: Buy a small cup of vanilla fro-yo for $2
• February: Buy 5 ounces of fro-yo, get 5 ounces free
• March: Four ounces of mint fro-yo for free

You had to sign up by 10/29/2012 to qualify for the offer. The card can be picked up at the Burlingame loctaion by those who signed up in time between now and 11/26 (remember supplies are limited). They have a list of emails of those who signed up in time. 

Thanks Yogurtland Burlingame, for making a girl feel like a true fro-yo VIP.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Pinkberry Launches eGifting and Pinkberry Gingerbread for the Holidays

Fro-yo girl here. Pinkberry is ready for the holiday season with a new flavor, Pinkberry Gingerbread, debuting today and eGifting.

Enjoy seasonal toppings like crushed gingersnaps, nutmeg and white chocolate crisps with your cup of Pinkberry Gingerbread.

With eGifting, you can send and receive Pinkberry gift cards via the Pinkberry website, mobile app or email. Also starting today and through the end of the year, customers who purchase a $25 gift card in store or using the new Pinkberry mobile app will get a $5 gift.

“Consumers are looking for brands to enable commerce through their mobile devices,” says Ron Graves, CEO of Pinkberry. “For the holidays, Pinkberry is elevating social commerce through eGifting with our new mobile app, empowering our customers to easily share the delicious gift of Pinkberry with friends and family via social channels and email from their mobile device."

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Fro-yo girl here. Let the Yuletide Yumminess begin...Yogurtland’s third annual holiday promotion launched on Monday, 11/12. Each week for the next six weeks, participating Yogurtland locations will offer two holiday fro-yo flavors. Here’s the flavor schedule: 

• Nov. 12 - 18: Cinnamon Roll & Peanut Butter Cup
• Nov. 19 - 25: Egg Nog & Brownie Batter
• Nov. 26 - Dec. 2: Butterscotch & Strawberry Rhubarb Tart
• Dec. 3 - 9: Sticky Toffee Pudding & Amaretto Cookies
• Dec. 10 - 16: Black Forest Cake & Boysenberry Tart
• Dec. 17 - 23: Tiramisu & Gingerbread

I picked up my Yuletide Yumminess card at Yogurtland this week. You’ll get a stamp for every cup of fro-yo purchased (minimum 8 ounces) during the 6 week period (Nov. 12 - Dec. 23, 2012). After you collect three stamps, you can get 3 ounces of free fro-yo. After you collect 6 stamps, you can get 12 ounces of free fro-yo. I think the only flavors I’ve tried before are Egg Nog and Gingerbread. I’m most looking forward to trying Strawberry Rhubarb Tart. For each completed card, Yogurtland will make a donation to the Save the Children’s Hurricane Sandy Children in Emergencies Fund.

The format has changed. In the past, Yogurtland introduced a new flavor every day for 12 days and card holders were entitled to 2 ounces free of the featured Yuletide Yumminess flavor.

What a great way to try new flavors, earn free fro-yo and help needy kids. Remember the fro-yo flavors will only be in the stores while supplies last, so go early.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

My Favorite Ice Cream, Tara’s Organic

Fro-yo girl here. It feels odd to blog about ice cream but I just had to share my excitement about finding my favorite ice cream, Tara’s Organic Ice Cream (TOIC), at Canyon Market in SF. They had a few flavors in the freezer: black sesame, lavender, cardamom, and mango agave sorbet (12 ozs. for $8.99). Tara’s ice cream is made in small batches (2 - 4 gallons at a time) with the best organic ingredients with no emulsifiers or stabilizers. The roster includes 132 flavors of ice cream and sorbet, including unusual, sophisticated flavors like white pepper chocolate chip, epazote, cucumber basil and chocolate tarragon. 

* Cardamom ice cream: This could be my favorite ice cream flavor. It’s dense, firm and creamy and the taste is pure heaven, the best thing in the world...possibly as good as the best fro-yo. It’s the ice cream version of the amazing Indian sweet, soan papdi. The cardamom flavor is intense and it blends perfectly with milk, cream and sugar. Their cardamom just tastes better. It’s freshly ground for each batch.

Tara’s website lists the locations that carry TOIC in Northern California and they can ship via FedEx to any address in the continental US. If you can make it to their shops (in Berkeley and Oakland), hit the Berkeley location. It has more flavors (more to sample).

While you’re at Canyon Market, I also recommend picking up the butternut squash lasagna and smoked chicken spread from the deli case. The grilled cheese sandwiches on housemade bread are really good too. You can pick the cheese and bread you’d like.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* CANYON MARKET: 2185 Diamond St., San Francisco, CA

Cute Fro-yo Cups for Sale

Fro-yo girl here. Want to serve fro-yo at home in a cute cup? I found the cutest fro-yo cups at Shop Sweet Lulu. They have polka dot fro-yo cups, pastel fro-yo cups, colorful taster spoons, cone holders, milk bottles, glass pedestal jars, etc.

My favorite cups are the pastel blue and white striped ones (12 cups for $7).

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Meiji Chelsea Yogurt Scotch Biscuits Review

Fro-yo girl here. About a year ago, I reviewed Meiji Yogurt caramels (firm, tasty caramels with yogurt flavor). Since then, they’ve come out with Chelsea Yogurt Scotch Biscuits. The look of the packaging with its 70’s inspired flowers, is similar to their Yogurt caramels. The cookies are made in Japan.

There are four packages inside a box and each package contains two sandwich cookies. The cookies are crispy and light like butter shortbread and the creamy filling in between the cookies has a tangy sweet flavor that I’d say tastes more like a sweet yogurt drink than yogurt. It’s an interesting flavor.

I found a 3.8 ounce box of Meiji Chelsea Yogurt Scotch Biscuits at Nijiya Market for $2.79. 

Ingredients: wheat flour, shortening, sugar, whole milk powder, yogurt powder, salt, sour agent, emulsifiers, butter oil, artificial flavor, whey powder.

4 out of 5 stars.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* NIJIYA MARKET: 1737 Post St. #333, San Francisco, CA

Meet Yogurt To-fu

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve long been a fan of To-Fu Oyako, the tofu characters designed by the Japanese company, Devilrobots. Back in 2005, they introduced five Series 6 Kubrick toys. The characters included Yogurt, Milk, Dog, Strawberry and New Zealand. The figures are poseable and can stand on their own.

Yogurt To-Fu’s tagline is “His work is fermentation.” You can learn more about To-Fu Oyako on their website.

The To-Fu app was just released and it’s a math game for kids.You can find it in the App store by searching under To-Fu Oyako. It’s free.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.